Chapter 1 Contents:
Know Your Rights
TENANTS IN NEW JERSEY have legal rights and responsibilities. These rights and responsibilities are stated in many different laws. This manual explains those laws and explains your rights and responsibilities as a tenant.
Read this manual carefully. Knowledge is the key to your rights! You can’t protect yourself if you don’t know what your legal rights are.
This chapter discusses times when you might need a lawyer, how to find one, and how to find the law if you have to represent yourself. It also explains the benefits of joining a tenants association.
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Do I need a lawyer?
This manual gives information about landlord and tenant law. It cannot answer every question and it does not provide specific advice about a particular legal problem that you may have. It is not a substitute for a lawyer.
The information in this manual will help you protect your rights as a tenant. If you know your rights and responsibilities, you can avoid legal problems. You can also be better able to assert your rights with your landlord on your own, and defend yourself in court, if necessary.
Knowledge of your rights will also make you better prepared if you have to see a lawyer. If you’re not sure whether you need a lawyer, by all means talk to one.
If you have to go to court, try to get a lawyer to represent you. You may find it difficult to follow the law or deal with the landlord, especially if the landlord has a lawyer. You may also find that properly preparing your case to follow the law may be difficult. If you lose your case and want to appeal, you will need a lawyer to help you.
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Finding a lawyer
If you need the advice of a lawyer but cannot afford one, you may be eligible for Legal Services. Contact the Legal Services program in your area. You can find a list of programs and telephone numbers at the office directory page of www.lsnj.org.
Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ) coordinates the statewide Legal Services system in New Jersey, providing free legal assistance to low-income people in civil matters. This includes disputes involving landlords and tenants. Part of Legal Services’ mission is to make people more aware of their legal rights. Awareness allows people to resolve some problems on their own, without the need for lawyers. Informed people also are able to make better use of lawyers when they are needed.
You also may contact LSNJ’s statewide, toll-free legal hotline, LSNJ-LAW™, at 1-888-LSNJ-LAW (1-888-576-5529). The hotline provides information, advice, and referrals to low-income New Jersey residents who have civil legal problems. This service is provided at no charge to applicants who are financially eligible.
If you don’t qualify for Legal Services, contact your local lawyer referral service. You can get the telephone number for the lawyer referral service in your area by contacting your county bar association.
There may also be a tenants association in your building or complex or other tenant groups in your city or town. These groups can help you find a lawyer and may know of lawyers who represent tenants at a reduced cost. Tenants associations are discussed later in this chapter.
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Representing yourself
If you can’t find or afford a lawyer, you can always represent yourself. In legal terms, this is called appearing in court pro se. If you read it carefully, this manual will help you prepare your case if you have to go to court by yourself. Take notes on what you read, and review your notes before you go to court. Be prepared!
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is very concerned that tenants who represent themselves are treated fairly. The Court has implemented procedures to assure that this occurs, and that tenants understand their rights. Cite: Community Realty Management v. Harris, 155 N.J. 212 (1998). These procedures are described in more detail in Chapter 12.
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Finding the law
You may want to read a law that is discussed in this manual to better understand the law or to prepare your case for court. If you need to read a law, there are several places you can go to find law books.
Check your local public library first. You may find everything you need right there. Some colleges and county courthouses have law libraries. The State Library and the two New Jersey law schools have extensive law libraries that are open to the public.
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Getting the assistance of a librarian
Librarians are very helpful in pointing out where the books and statutes are located. They will also help if you are having difficulty finding the statutes and cases for which you are looking.
The State Library is located at:
185 West State Street
P.O. Box 520
Trenton, NJ 08625-0520
Library phone: (609) 292-6220
Rutgers Law School—Newark is located at:
123 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
Library phone: (973) 353-5675
Rutgers Law School—Camden is located at:
217 North Fifth Street
Camden, NJ 08102
Library phone: (856) 225-6172
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Finding landlord-tenant laws
This manual uses the word Cite: followed by numbers, letters, and names to refer to laws. A cite tells you the book in which the law is located. You can then read the law yourself by finding the cited book.
Landlord-tenant laws are made in several ways in New Jersey. Proposed laws, or bills, when passed by the State Legislature and signed by the governor, become laws and are called statutes. Some statutes require state government agencies to adopt laws called regulations. Laws are also made by judges when they decide court cases involving landlords and tenants.
Statutes are printed in a set of green books called New Jersey Statutes Annotated (N.J.S.A.). These books are numbered and have “titles.” There are many “chapters” in each book, and many “articles” in each chapter. A cite to one of these laws is: N.J.S.A. 2A:18-53 (N.J.S.A. title 2A, chapter 18, article 53).
Tenant laws are in several N.J.S.A. books. To find out which N.J.S.A. book and chapter has the law you want, first look in the N.J.S.A. index. The N.J.S.A. general index for letters G-M lists various tenant laws under the heading “Landlord and Tenant.” This list gives the cites or book numbers where you can find the law you want.
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Finding new or recent laws. New or recent landlord-tenant laws may be in the “pocket parts” of the N.J.S.A. book. The pocket parts are found at the back of each book. Even if the law you want is in the regular N.J.S.A. book, you should always check the pocket part to see if any changes to the law have been made. The pocket parts are updated every year.
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Finding regulations. Some landlord-tenant laws require the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to issue regulations for carrying out the law. DCA and other state agency regulations are located in a set of dark blue binders known as the New Jersey Administrative Code (N.J.A.C.).
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Finding case law. Landlord-tenant law is also made by judges when they decide court cases involving disputes between landlords and tenants. This law, or case law, is located in two sets of books called case reporters. Reporters contain court decisions that explain why the judge decided for or against a tenant. Decisions by courts where landlord-tenant disputes are first heard (trial courts) and decisions by the appellate court are located in a set of light green books called New Jersey Superior Court Reports (N.J. Super.). Decisions by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, the highest state court, are located in the cream-colored books called New Jersey Reports (N.J.) A cite to a decision in either reporter starts with the names of the people or companies who were in court against each other. After the names, the number of the book where you can find the court decision is listed.
For example, Marini v. Ireland, 56 N.J. 130 (1970), refers to a Supreme Court decision where the landlord—Marini—sued his tenant—Ireland. The decision is found in the 56th volume of New Jersey Reports, starting at page 130. The year of the decision is 1970. The cite to trial or appellate court decisions in the New Jersey Superior Court Reports is N.J. Super. An example of a Superior Court cite is Drew v. Pullen, 172 N.J. Super. 570 (App. Div. 1980).
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Finding local laws. Landlord-tenant laws are also made by city, borough, or township governments, such as rent control laws and standards for maintaining rental property, or property maintenance laws. Laws made by local governing bodies are called ordinances. For example, the New Brunswick rent control law is located in a book called Ordinances of the City of New Brunswick. To find out if your city or township has passed a landlord-tenant law, you can call your city or township hall. Your local public library and the law libraries mentioned above also may have copies of the ordinances.
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Federal law. Federal laws and federal court decisions affect New Jersey tenants who live in public housing or other federally subsidized housing. Federal law applies to tenants receiving rental assistance under the federal program known as Section 8. Federal law also prohibits certain types of discrimination in the rental of housing.
This manual includes cites to federal statutes and court decisions. These cites allow you to find federal statutes, regulations, and court decisions at the law library.
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Tenants associations
Tenants associations are groups of tenants in a single building or in a town that work to improve the conditions in rental housing. Tenants associations also work to protect and increase the legal rights of tenants. The New Jersey Tenants Organization (NJTO) works to improve state laws affecting tenants’ rights. In fact, most of the New Jersey laws protecting tenants were passed as a result of the efforts of NJTO and other tenant organizations.
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The importance of local tenants associations
Tenants associations are very important because many laws affecting tenants are made every year by city or town councils. These important laws cover rent control, property maintenance, and housing inspection.
It is important for tenants to work together, on a building-, block-, neighborhood-, and town-wide basis, to address these issues. Tenants can also work together to try to rid apartment complexes of illegal drugs or to find ways to deal with landlords who don’t follow the law. Find out what tenants groups exist in your area, and get involved with them. To find out if there is a tenants association in your city or town, contact the New Jersey Tenants Organization at:
389 Main Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
(201) 342-3775
Fax: (201) 342-3776
E-mail: info@njto.org
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